Rodrigo Bellott is an experimental filmmaker and theater producer who was named by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in 2018.
Recognized globally for his films, he came to Ithaca College from Bolivia and graduated in 2001. Known as a prominent international visual artist, he has been featured in exhibitions all over South America and won the Bolivian Art Biennial in 2005 and 2009.
Bellott is best known for his breakout hit Sexual Dependency, which was released in 2003 and was Bolivia’s entry to the foreign film category of the 76th Academy Awards. The film won 17 awards and was viewed in over 65 film festivals around the world. The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Indiewire, and Time Out NY named Sexual Dependency one of the 10 best films of 2004. Bellott also directed, Who Killed the White Llama?, a knockabout road comedy that was the biggest box-office success in the history of Bolivia, among other places.
Bellott’s films have been selected to compete in Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, and the New York Film Festival. Bellott is also the founder of Bolivian BOLD Inc., his Production Company in New York. In addition to his filmmaking, Bellott recently published his first book, Tu Mu Manques, which he's turned into an experimental multimedia theater production about the suicide of his closeted lover. He prototyped this production here at IC with Park School students. The production includes a live hour-long Skype conversation, projected on multiple screens, and live Facebook messaging. He was told by Broadway producers that it couldn't be done; the possibility of losing the Wi-Fi connection made it too risky. So he produced it in Bolivia, a country that has what he calls "the worst WiFi in the world." The sensational result (the biggest box office in a decade) encouraged hundreds of young Bolivians to come out, in a country not known for its LGBTQ rights. Now, Tu Me Manques is not only moving to Broadway in early 2019, but it is also a film, debuting at numerous film festivals this summer and fall.
When he’s not working on his own projects, Bellott has used his film expertise as an executive producer, casting director, consultant, and judge at film festivals on various top films of varying nationalities. Additionally, Bellott uses his experience to guest lecture at top film universities—including, of course, IC, which he visits regularly.